Futbolito

Sheela and five of her friends played in a soccer tournament this weekend down in Southwest Dallas. It was a long way to go and we got off to a rough start. The schedule doesn't get made until all of the teams have checked in the morning. We left home at 7:30 AM and got the schedule at 9:00AM and our first game wasn't until 11:00AM. That's a long time to sit in the hundred degree heat after waking up early. Luckily we had not one but two shade canopies and Christi staked out a nice big tree for our "camp".

The format was new to us but I liked it and the girls seemed to too. It was 4 v 4 with no goalies and short, very quick halves. We lost two and won one. Sheela scored one of the goals (I think that this was her first goal for Super Blue). Kelzy and Sarah scored too. There were only three all girl teams in the whole tournament and we were the only one in the U8 division. The whole tournament was run in Spanish, some of the referees didn't speak English. All in all it was a very good experience. Just for the record... Cambio means substitution. We are going to learn our soccer terms one at a time. But we are going to learn them.

Gifted and Talented - Check

Sheela's results are back. She did very well on her second round of testing and has been accepted into the Gifted and Talented program. Way to go little girl!

I don't know how they set the curriculum but it appears that she will get to some in-depth studies on Asia over the next two years.

Roughriders 5 - Cardinals 1

Last night Orthofix took us to the baseball game, Triple A ball up in Frisco. We go every year for Sunil's birthday, but this is the first year that we've seen the Riders win. It was a great game and perfect weather. I love the fireworks show after the game too. Its a great experience all the way around. It did make miss Blake. Last year we went right before he went back home. It was his first time to see fireworks.

Sunil's take on the fireworks is that "they" take large lightbulbs, small lightbulbs and food coloring, mash it all up, then pack it into a a barbecue grill until it explodes.

Stage Three - Water Conservation Plan

Mandatory Water Restrictions are now in effect for the North Texas Municipal Water District. The lakes are lower than they've been in 50 years and there is no relief in sight. As of June 1, we are allowed to water our lawns one time a week (on the day that trash is collected) but it has to be between 10PM and 6AM. The fine for wasting water is $2000. Yikes!

Air - Under appreciated

I think it is safe to say that we all know that I am not a morning person. I rarely actually wake up when I roll out of bed but tend to blunder along in a semi-conscious state for as long as possible. Its not just that my brain is sluggish, my whole body reacts as if I'm in a pool of syrup. But I've been a good sport and a willing participant in our early morning bike rides for almost three whole weeks now. I don't grumble, whine or resort to tricks to avoid the rides. I get on my bike in relatively good cheer and then huff, puff and gasp my way through the next 30-45 minutes. To tell you the truth it has been mortifying to realize how hard it is for me to keep my legs moving and I do have to pedal constantly or I drift rapidly to a complete stop. My bike is on the old side and rather heavy compared to some of the snazzy newer models, but it isn't really filled with cement but I've let myself get so out of shape that it feels like its pulling an extra 50 pounds (and I haven't gained that much).

I felt a little bit better when Mom commented on how hard she had to work on her ride with Sheela over the weekend. I know Mom is in pretty good shape. Between the tennis and the hiking she is doing great. So maybe I'm not the complete slug that I feel like.

This morning I wasn't quite as tired as the others, my brain was a little bit more rested and my oxygen level just a touch higher. With this new found AM lucidity I had an epiphany. I should check the air in my tires. You guessed it... the back tire was completely flat and I've been too tired to even notice. It took us a little bit longer to get on the road this morning but we were able to ride farther faster on those wonderful circular tires. I'm not nearly as worn out and I'm actually looking forward to riding tomorrow.

PreK Graduation

Well they didn't go as far as having an actual ceremony to commemorate the end of preschool but they did take pictures. Sunil is now a Kindergartener. Way to go Sunili!

Life's Little Lessons Learned

Well I watched Sheela's face as she learned an important lesson about putting away her belongings yesterday. Yup, she left her "razor" scooter laying in the driveway behind Sid's car. We ran it over a few times and dragged it along under the car before getting it out. Unfortunately it is not a total loss, the foam on the handle is torn and the foot plate canted but it can still be ridden... though it is much harder to balance now. The look on her face as she made the connection between the hideous scrapping noise and her favorite toy was priceless. I think she learned the lesson.

Happy Birthday Sunil!

My baby is five years old today and still such a sweetie. He is at Kids Club tody, hopefully making new friends and going swimming.

Birthday party

Sunil celebrated his birthday today with 13 of his closest friends... more or less. One friend from school, three from soccer, two from the neighborhood and then assorted siblings. We borrowed the Bonzai Waterfall Waterslide to entertain the kids. It tore huge holes in the ground but was a ton of fun. After we ran the kids out the adults took our turns too. I would use it again. We also tie-died t-shirts for each of the kids. They wont get to rinse them out to see how they did until tonight. I hope they come out and that the color doesn't all wash away immediately. Tomorrow for his actual 5th birthday we are going to go to Chuck E. Cheese (just the family) and then do the rest of the gifts.

Grammylyn and GrandpaJohn are here

They arrived Friday about the time I got home from work. We've been staying up way too late but I love the visiting so its worth it. John is taking some major antihistamines to deal with his cat allergy but I think its going pretty well.

Town and Country

Sid found a new car for me on Saturday. I still want the many seats that come with the minivan so I was looking at the Freestars and the Odesseys. Sid did convince me to give the Town and Country a try. It is very nice and not to sound too much like a girl about it but its the prettiest color of blue! The mileage was a little bit higher than I wanted but the price made up for the difference. It doesn't have the built in DVD player that I'm finally convinced that I want but Sid promised to have one installed for me. In the end I chose not to have it installed but I bought a portable model that we can use in either car and store in the house. I wont let the kids use it in town anyway and the Texas heat burns the monitors out pretty fast. So we have a pair of monitors that we can use anywhere. I've been too busy to take a picture but I'll get to it eventually.

Quality Auditor Training

Today I begin my two day Quality Auditor training class.  I have to leave a little bit early and work a little bit later but I think it will be worth it.  I'm going with 14 of my favorite co-workers.  It should be a good experience.

Bye-bye second grade

Today is Sheela's last day as a second grader!  Its been a great year and she has grown up a lot.  I can hardly imagine ever having another teacher that was as good a fit for her as Ms. DeWaters was. 

Birds, birds, birds

Sid and I have begun our second week of morning rides (I'm so proud of us).  Most of the ride happens before the first light of dawn.  The last time I spent much time outside before dawn, I was attempting to walk Sheela to sleep as an infant.  Five minutes with her outside always put her out.  But I rarely got to enjoy those walks, I was typically tired and cranky and focused on not dropping the sleeping little bundle of joy. 

 

Before that it was all the way back to middle school when I would do Brian's paper route.  What I remember most about those charming early mornings were the bull bats circling over head and then diving at me with blood thirsty abandon.  Even after learning what they were and how little they cared about my presence I had to pep myself up to run from one apartment door to the next because the silence before the attack was so unnerving.

 

Since that time I've rarely been out near a metro area, at dusk or dawn, when I haven't heard the bull bats circling though I've never had them diving close enough for me to hear the wind whistling through the "holes" in their wings like I did back then.  This morning I was listening to them and keeping track of where they were at all times like I always do when two of the largest birds I've ever seen glided past in front of me.  They came silently out of nowhere and disappeared through the trees by the pond almost before I could register them.  It was a pair of great blue herons.  That was a great way to start the day.  I hope I get to see more of them and less of the bull bats.

Sunil is shaping up to be a car guy....

Cars are his favorite pastime at home, he loves to start our cars for us in the morning and now he has become addicted to bumper cars. He almost skipped the pizza and cake at Gavin's party in order to keep driving.

Picture of a boxer

Here are Sheela's cuts after her weekend adventure.

The boxer

Poor Sheela, not only does she have to deal with the lice thing, but she chose to help her Dad break down some boards and brush and load it on the trailer for a trip to the dump. The board she broke kicked back and hit her in the face. She has a bruise between her eyebrows, and two cuts on the bridge of her nose. She looks tough, but apparently it hurts to move her eyebrows.

Its that wonderful time of year.... the lice are back

and of course where do they go first... Straight to Sheela of the long tresses. Luckily, this year we've already whacked off about five inches of length. It has actually been nearly three nears since we did this last time. As I recall the last round was ending just as Sheela was ready for her Indian dance recital and she needed ALL the length she could muster so that when she tied her hair to her girdle she could still move her head.

My treatment mode is pretty well established. The first night is an extremely nasty lice shampoo with a thorough combing. Then wash every fabric covered item in the house with hot water. The next couple of weeks will involve oiling her hair with olive oil and leaving it on for at least two hours and frequently overnight as often as possible. Overnight means I get to wrap her head in saran wrap to protect the sheets and pillows. Washing the oil out is rather an ordeal, but it does leave the hair very soft and manageable. There is also hair brush boiling, frequent vacumming and sheet washing every other day.

Bailey's Berry Patch

As we near Memorial Day weekend it's time to take a look at the opening day festivities at Bailey's Berry Patch (a little slice of Heaven in Texas). Last year, Mom and John took Blake and Sunil on opening day and they stuffed themselves full of blackberries and still brought back plenty for us to share. It was too early for them to be able to get blueberries... but not by much.

I was hoping to go this year and take Sheela along with us, but it looks like they aren't going to be able to open this year at all. They were hit by a MASSIVE hail storm at the end of March and it decimated this year's crops. Every flower and most of the leaves were stripped right off of the plants.

Five straight days

Sid and I completed a week of early morning rides. The weekends don't count, they are for sleeping late and cuddling with the kids. We usually end up just lapping Celebration Park a few times. From our house we can't really get anywhere too interesting, but I guess that its nice just to be up and out.

Waffles......

yet another one of the many "prepared" foods that my children prefer to eat still frozen. Waffles, pancakes, taquitos... I had to draw the line at mini-cornsdogs. Yuck!

The gist....

of today's parent teacher conference was great kid, very smart, though once he starts sucking his thumb he goes straight to lazy.  It's true, once his thumb gets plugged in all other functions stop (except for the hair twirling).  He works fast, he works neatly, he is very thorough right up until the thumb and then he just sits for 45 minutes to an hour and a half doing nothing but sucking and twirling.  If recess didn't roll around he'd probably never snap out of it.  Everyone else gets to go out to play but he has to stay inside until his work is done.  It usually takes less than five minutes for him to finish up.

 

He cut way back on the thumb sucking for awhile.  It increases when he's tired and we've let him stay up way to late too many times lately.  That isn't helping.

 

He has mastered his letter sounds, short and long vowels and most combinations, he mastered the hundred board and all of the relational works (heavy to light, smooth to rough, big to small, dark to light, etc), the continents, the oceans, the states, map concepts, the hundred board, addition and subtraction, grouping, all sorts of great stuff.

Aerobic exercise - a new concept for me

I used my new "youth" bike helmet this morning for the first time. Sid and I went out for a pre-dawn ride. We were out for less than half an hour but it felt good. I did have to work ridiculously hard for such a gentle ride. I hope that we can keep it up, exercising at night has not worked well for us at all.

When we got back Sid woke Sheela up and they went running while I took my shower.

ACS Update - Not yet final

The Relay-for-Life website is not crediting the teams with all of their donations, which is a little frustrating but even more annoying is that the donations that are there are inconsistent. Some checks were there for awhile and then fell off, cash that was donated at the event never showed up, or showed up and then fell back off. I have six donations showing on the marquee at my website, but as of today my report page shows that I have only two donations. I don't know which two its counting, I have credit for $305 which is everyone except the checks. Our team total is still showing as $675, but there should be over $800.

Its all about me....

I got to chose our restaurant Friday night for my birthday dinner. Mario Chiquita is where Sid and I usually go alone, but we haven't been in at least six months and it sounded really good. They have excellent sangria but as it was a family night I passed on the pitcher.

Sunil gave me a new bike helmet. My old one is nearly 15-years old and was plain black and rather drab. The new one, selected personally by my favorite four-year old, is a pretty blue with a green frog with a bright pink tongue. At the end of the tongue it says "ZAP". It is of course a youth size helmet and still too big for my little bitty head. I was disappointed to note that the strap system has not been improved in the last 15 years. The reason no one wears their helmet properly, is that its too damn hard to adjust.

Sheela gave me the novel Angels and Demons. Sid gave me a new flat screen monitor for the computer. The Sharma gave me a dozen red roses and beautiful chocker with matching earrings. I'll try to take a picture of it later. Its rows of tiny diamond chips and rubies.

I received breakfast in bed this morning along with a bouquet of construction paper flowers. Each flower is attached to a chore. Theoretically I can command cheerful assistance with any chore I select at any time.

I have quite a flower collection going right now. In addition to the paper bouquet and the roses I received bouquets from both of the soccer teams.

Swim Tests Today

I took both kids in for evaluation this morning, even though I was pretty sure they would both be repeating the same levels from last year. Sure enough, it's a repeat year. Sunil is signed up for two sessions of lessons, June 19 - 29 and July 10-24. Sheela only gets in one session before heading off to TN for golf camp and hiking.

Birthday 38

Sunil tells me that I can wait until tomorrow to turn 38. I don't think it matters all that much. I'm looking forward to a low stress but technically challenging day at work, dinner out with the family and then some time out with Sid. It is beautiful here today, so I may even leave work early to go walk around the pond for awhile.

Surgery Day

Today I went to Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children to watch a couple of surgeries. The two primary cases were both lower limb corrections, one tibial and one femoral. The first case, was the result of an infection the child had when he was still an infant (he's 10 now). One side of his growth plate was destroyed so his lower leg only grows on one side. The ring system that we are evaluating uses a stack of three rings that are pinned in place around the leg. The rings are rigidly attached to each other, mostly. The ring above and below the point where the bone is cut will be swiveled slowly over the next month allowing a wedge of new bone to fill in which straightens and lengthens the leg.

The second case was caused by a congenital condition where one leg grows half as fast as the other. This patient was 12 years old and had been through a number of these surgeries before. He needed straightening in two different planes and pure grown at both incisions. The two incisions will have to be done at least six weeks apart, even though the frame was pre-built to do the whole procedure. When he needs the second incision it will be a very short procedure to cut the bone.

The most amazing thing that we saw though was a young girl with a severe (180 degree) spine curvature. That is not a typo. In her before picture she looked like she was leaning against a pillow, but that was really her butt propping up her back. They modified the ring system and straightened her out pretty well. They were removing the frame today. She has 14 pin holes in her back and hips and hasn't been able to lay down for four months.

The ring system is like one that we already have, just scaled down for pediatric patients. But the software that they are bundling with the system is amazing. It allows them pre-build the frame which saves hours in the OR and makes for a much more precise correction.

We are developing a long term relation ship with this hospital and I think that it may be one of the best things that we've ever done. The hospital is one of the best teaching facilities in the world, it's all free but you have to be recommended for treatment. I hope to spend a lot of time out there over the next couple of years.

Summer soccer

We have only one remaining soccer game this Spring. Super Blue plays on Sunday then we are on a practice only schedule until June 10th. They will be playing indoors down in Addison for the Summer, which means we will be sitting in airconditioned luxury for the Summer.

Book Two

Sheela finished the first Harry Potter this morning (around 5 am) and has started in on the Chamber of Secrets. She's having a great time and pretty proud of herself.

She fell asleep last night at 6 PM, and woke up early. It made for a nice evening for me, Sid and Sunil. Sunil doesn't get enough time as the center of attention.

Relay-for-Life 2006

Our team, Lynn's Lances, raised nearly $600 in just three days. We came pretty late to the party. Pictured here are Cecile, Beckie, Pete, Laura and Lee. Victor came later, and Andrea was chasing down some free Jamba Juice.

After the survivor's dinner and the opening remarks, the survivors started the walk with a lap of their own. The survivors are all wearing purple.
Next came the caregiver's lap. Here Cecile is supposed to be supporting Andrea but its more like they are holding each other up.
Sheela, Sunil and Sid spent most of the evening with us. They contributed another $20 or so for face painting and bounce house use.

Our team thought we would break down and leave at midnight but we can honestly say that we stayed for the entire event. That was made possible, of course, because the event was shut down rather rapidly at 11PM. The expected storm cell turned out to be more violent than expected and the sponsor's weren't taking any chances. We were given one hour's notice to remove all traces of the event. I was home in bed (asleep)by 11:30PM.

Even better the amount of rain required that the soccer games be cancelled so I managed to sleep late too.

9 and Dine

Yesterday was the 17th semi-annual MIS Golf Classic. It was my third time at the event and my first time using my own clubs. (Thanks Mom!) Once again a good time was had by all, but not necessarily good golf. I am proud to say that some of my drives, chips and puts were all used by my team. Still we tied for last, so I wasn't that much of a help. We actually only had two bad holes, but they were really bad, and we only played nine to start with.

Lynn's Lances

I've signed up to join a group of Lynn's friends at the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life this Friday night. We've been given conflicting information about the event, but the fundraising piece and the start time are both pretty clear. The end time isn't nailed down as well. We are either walking from 7PM Friday night until midnight, or until 7 AM Saturday, or possibly midnight on Saturday night. I'm okay with either of the first two options. Soccer games start at 8AM on Saturday. I'll have to break away before then.

In the meantime feel free to make a contribution to the cause. Apparently I can't get the link to work so please take it upon yourself to go to www.acsevents.org/faf/home and search for my name under the donations page. Thank you!

House Sparrows

Our flock of house sparrows continues to grow, thrive and generally take over.  We have the obligatory nest inside each of the bathroom vents and one in the bluebird box.  But new this year is the one that keeps trying to nest inside the barbeque grill.  We cleared it out twice then resorted to leaving the lid open... maybe for the rest of the Spring. 

Welcome home, Grandma and Grandpa!

They've been off visiting Ravi and family for the last three weeks. The kids are thrilled. I've been informed (by Sunil) that I'm no longer needed to drive him around. Grandpa will take care of all of that again.

What size was that?

The time has come to survey the kids bathing suits and summer clothes. They will swim at least twice a week all summer. Sunil finally did outgrow both of MY favorite suits. He's had them for nearly three years. That leaves him only the bright orange one. It is HIS favorite because it looks like Dad's. It fits better than ever... it is a size 12 Months. The child is about to turn five. That's just wrong.

Date Night

It has been a busy few days.  Friday we passed our transfer audit at work.  I got to step up and assist with the process.  I wasn't intending to be "in the room" but our Regualtory Manager had a family emergency and is still out of town.  The audit was quick and painless and we were very well prepared.

 

Late Friday afternoon Sid and I agreed to accept a placement of two girls, one eight and one seven.  Luckily for us that fell apart at the last minute.  We really don't need to have two more children to deal with.

 

Sheela took the screening exam for the talented and gifted program at school.  All she can say about the test was that it was easy and involved drawing pictures and applying captions.  One of her pictures depicted what life would be like if you had an egg for a head.  Test result will be mailed the week of June 5th.

 

While she was being tested, the Panthers were losing a soccer game.  The team started off three players short, and a fourth got sick on the field and had to be benched.  The girls played okay, not great, but not bad.  They just ran out of steam.

 

Sunil's team played later and was another of the high scoring variety more on the opponent's side than on ours.  But they played well and had fun.  They were only short one player.

 

Both kids spent the night with friend on Saturday.  Sid took me to Fogo de Chao for dinner, it's another Brazilian chop house.  Yummy!  We followed it up with a few hours at Pete's Dueling Piano Bar and dessert at IHOP.

 

We collected the kids at Sheela's soccer game today.  Super Blue finally won a game (against an older team).  Woohoo!  They played pretty well but a number of the girls were all at the same slumber party and a little bit tired.

 

On our way home we swung by the Natatorium for swimming.  The plan was to wear the kids out so that they'd take a nap.  That didn't work so well, but as I fell asleep as soon as we got home it was okay by me.  My understanding is that they went to play with a neighbor.

Tot-kwon-do

We attempted to sign up Sunil for a martial arts class at school.  Actually we tried back in Septemeber and he wasn't interested, now he has asked to join.  We signed him up, they gave him his uniform and let him come to class one time.  The next two weeks they told him not to come.  It may have been more polite when they said it, but translated through the mouth of a disappointed four-year old it sounded rather rude.  After the first time the school said they were investigating the difficulty and I failed to follow up.  It happened again this week.  The school did follow up.  It turns out that we never paid for the class.  We wrote down our credit card information and checked the box requesting that they bill the card but they didn't do it.  Apparently this was true for both the kids that tried to pay by credit card.  I'm still waiting for a call back to work out the details.  There are only four more classes before the end of the school year.  It may just not be worth it.  We've promised Sunil that we will find him a local class as soon as soccer wraps up anyway.

Belo Horizonte

It looks like Brazil might actually happen.  The discussion now is who really needs to go and who just wants to tag along.  The Latin American VP will be there the third week in May.  He'd like me to come while he is there.  The Director of R&D (I think he's going just so I don't have to travel alone) has another trip already planned for that week.  The VP of Finance wants to go and he's available that week too.  So it comes down to whether the R&D guy is neccessary or just my babysitter.  If he's neccessary it may be a month or two before we can reschedule, if he's not I'll be gone the 14-19th of May.

I'm so happy.... and proud.....

my little girl has started reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.  I figured it would be a few more years before she would be ready for it.  I tried to get her to read it out loud to me but we only had an hour before bedtime and apparently reading out loud slows her down too much.  I went back to my own book which wasn't nearly as good.

Choclate Daddy

I placed Mom's picture of the Chocolate Daddy iris to my desk top at work. The picture is so rich that I can smell the chocolate, or so it seems to the general public. I know that there is a bag of Hersey miniatures underneath the scanner. Even without the smell of the chocolate I would still love the picture.

Job Perk

Maybe not a perk but definitely a reward.... Our marketing department runs a contest each year for all off our patients.  They have the opportunity to write up their experiences with our products and win a prize.  It gives us a way to see the difference that we make in our patient's lives.  Here is an excerpt from this year's winner (not from her entry but from the thank you note she sent after receiving her prize)..."I hope that your use of my photos and my story of recovery will help to spread the word about the benefits of external fixation.  I am fortunate to have the use of my foot after what could have been a career ending injury.  I thank Orthofix and my doctor for a second chance."  Its always good to know that we helped.

Midnight finances

Okay, its closer to 3 AM. Sid just remembered that we set up an automatic payment that we need to cancel before it gets paid this month. Most of the payments go out tomorrow so here we are checking on it. This is sort of a good news bad news type thing. The good news is that we did already take care of this (nearly a month ago) and just forgot. The bad news is its 3:00 AM and I'm not asleep and I don't fell like going back to sleep. This isn't so bad for me but I feel sorry for everybody that will have to deal with me while I'm cranky tomorrow.

Fondue

It took us three meals to eat all of the fondue that was supposed to have been Easter dinner. There was just too much food and it takes too long to prep AND cook AND eat. So we had the cheese course for dinner on Tuesday, the chocolate course for desert on Wednesday and the oil course on Thursday (with some left over chocolate course to round out the night). I now have both Sid and Sheela hooked on the shloss sauce that I use to jazz up the steak and mushrooms.

Mom I'm still using the same recipies that we used in Canton 20+ years ago, except I did try a new cheese recipe. It has finely chopped shrimp, American cheese and cream cheese. Definitely a winner.

Play-off Tickets

I almost bought a pair of Stars vs. Avalanche tickets for tomorrow night. They were excellent seats right on the glass behind our goal. A guy at work was trying to unload them for half price. As we were working out the finer details, he realized that they were for a 2PM game and not a 7PM game. I had to back out. Oh well, its not like I had my heart set on them or anything.

Spring Fling

Anderson Elementary celebrated the end of the TAKS testing with their annual Spring Fling tonight. All four of us went this year. Nothing like a 150 kids dancing in the gym surrounded by 150 parents. As TAKS isn't administered until the 3rd grade I didn't really feel the need to celebrate its conclusion, but I definitely celebrated the end of the Spring Fling with a margarita or two after the kids went to bed.

Open House

Sunil's school had their annual Open House last night. Sunil and I went. He selected two works to demonstrate for me. The first is called Color Block II. There are two sets of colored tiles. Each set contains 12 colors. First he has to lay out the twelve tiles in a straight line, then he matched the colors from the second set to the first set and lays them along side. Then he takes the names of the colors and places them next to the proper colors. As a class work he would then color in a picture of the twelve tiles and write the correct names next to the colors. Then everything gets put neatly back away.

The second work was the 100s board. There is a wooden plaque with the numbers 10, 20...100 printed on it which is placed on the floor. Then he opens a box of ten-strands (wires each strung with 10 beads). He places one strand next to the number 10, two next to the number 20 and so on. As he places the strands he has to count the number of beads by 10s. Then he puts it all neatly back away.

I like watching the kids work, but it was more fun to go to the old school when the watching was done during a normal school day with only one or two parents there at a time. The open house was much too loud and too crowded and you don't get to see as much or the true work. I was pleased in any case.

Destination 2006 - Brazil

First a flashback....
Destination 2005 - Italy
Destination 2004 - India
Destination 2003 - Italy
Destination 2002 - England

We seem to have a hobby here at work. It involves telling me to pack my bags because they really need me to go to ____________ (on some super secret project) and then never actually letting me go anywhere. I haven't actually taken one of these trips since 1997.

I've recently been informed that I'm needed in Brazil. They don't know when they need me to go but it is a job that only I can do... (much like the others).

Sailing Triumph

Dad and Eileen should be on their way to the airport for their return to the cruising world. At the last minute I brow beat them in to providing the link to their fledgling blog. It has been added to my links. They wont have much time to work on it before they get underway. Once they get underway they wont have access to work on it. As long as occaisional posts are added I think they will love it when they get back home.

Have a safe journey, and fair winds, K

Dinner Party 2 - Cancelled

We planned on having friends over for fondue on Sunday. I even made multiple trips to the store to pick up those last few items.... and then those that I'd forgotten.... and then some more that I hadn't even thought about..... By mid-afternoon we got a better offer anyway. We went with Rick and Patricia to visit some of their family down in South Dallas. They have six horses and a few acres of pasture. There were roughly 40 people and a ton of food. We just hung out, practiced our Spanish, and watched the kids ride and hunt for confetti filled eggs. It was a really nice way to spend the day.

Dinner Party 1

Brenda and Art Porth came over for dinner tonight. They brought all four kids: Ronni Sue, Taylor, Christian and Alli. We had roast pork with mushroom Swiss gravy, corn on the cob, a green salad and strawberry shortcake. All very yummy. Christian is now twelve years old and six foot two, all the kids are tall but he's the most obvious at the moment.

Our kids are in bed and asleep at last and the kitchen is mostly cleaned back up. Now I get to go hide some Easter eggs and the Easter baskets. Then I think I'll go to bed and hope to sleep really late.

Popcorn overload

Sid and I took the kids to see Ice Age 2 - The Meltdown. Sheela and Sid loved it, Sunil was afraid and I was bored. The upside was the first show was sold out so we had an hour to kill before the next showing. We went to the park next door and rented a paddle boat. It was fun, but it made my legs really tired. The radius for the paddles was about two inches.

Good Friday

Today is a nearly perfect Friday. I'm off from work, the kids are off from school, Sid is coming home early and the weather is GREAT.
I indulged the kids with donuts and a trip to the zoo. We weren't exactly the only ones there but it was too pretty for complaints and the honeysuckle is in full fragrant bloom.



They've opened another new exhibit, Crocodile Isle. It's not very large or very original. It does have three very large crocs, a pond and a sand bar.

Snapdragons

I planted two flats of snapdragons after work today. I ordered them last week from a neighborhood kid's choir fundraiser. They only had to desiccate on the front porch for two days before getting planted. That's actually pretty good for me. If they perk up overnight I'll take a picture of those around the Live Oak.

Abandoned puppies

Brenda and Jeremy rescued four puppies from their property up North. They are awfully cute and big enough to go to new homes. The same day she called to ask for help finding families for them she received emails from two other friends. Each friend had rescued other abandoned pups. Sometimes I really hate people.

Five minutes every other month for a year.

I succumbed to an impulse yesterday and booked a year of laser hair removal (underarms are on special this month) and I had my first treatment tonight. It took less than five minutes and only stung for a few minutes (and not too badly at that). Within an hour all of the pain was gone. Theoretically I shouldn't have to shave again for nearly two months.

Easter egg hunt

Supre Blue Academy ended their Monday practice with an Easter Egg hunt for the girls (and their siblings). It was more of a run-and-grab than a hunt but the kids had fun. I didn't get any stellar pictures..... the kids were running away from me by the time I remembered that I even had my camera. In this picture Sunil is the white shirt back and blue pants on the right, Sheela is the pink pants and the yucky green penny, Claire has red hair and a white shirt back with black shorts and Travis has red hair, a white shirt, blue pants and is on the left. Sarah is wearing the blue penny and Becca is behind Sunil.

The houses in the background are stereotypical Texas: tiny front yards, even less side yard and completely fenced backyards.

Once again with pictures

Dad says he can receive file sizes up to 35000 bits. Let's see how he does with one picture..... this one is from Christmas a year ago. Brian and Tracy sent yukata to the kids.

Soccer update

I missed Sid's coaching debut, but it was a smashing success. The girls played great and Sid says he did very little but cheer. The Hot Wheels probably lost but it was definitely the highest scoring game we've had and at more than one point we were winning by multiple goals. Sunil is rumored to have scored at least one, if not two, of the goals. He denies them both and I couldn't tell through the sea of little brown heads around the goal. Sheela's academy team won their match on Sunday 3 to 0 against girls a year older (but only a little bit taller for a change), usually we look like shrimps. The weather both days was glorious.

Countdown to cast -off

Dad and Eileen will be returning to Triumph in nine more days. This means that they will lose their ease access to the minutiae of my life. So I'm attempting to have the updates emailed to them via their radio link. This will be the first such post to be sent. If it doesn't crash and burn I'll try one with a picture. I'm hoping that I can find a way to suppress the pictures so it doesn't overload the system.

Kite Flying

It's a beautiful day here today. I'm guessing low 80s, and brilliant sun. I forced the family out of the television cave to go kite flying this morning. The winds were a little bit too light so we ended up flying Sunil instead. He's not quite as colorful but he squeals more so he is actually more fun.

Elephant Rides

We went to the circus last night, right here in our own little sleepy town. They come every Spring and set up within two miles of our house. It's not exactly Ringling Brothers but they do well enough. The tickets are relatively inexpensive but then you have the option of paying more for an upgrade, or two. They charge extra for the animal rides and the pictures of the animal rides. Sid, Sunil , Sheela and I paid to ride the elephant, but we didn't get the picture. We bought the cotton candy and the peanuts which are only available for two minutes during intermission (hurry, hurry, hurry) and just about froze to death in the big top when the sun went down. All in all a nice time.

Another not-quite-placement

The foster agency called again today with a 6-year old girl being removed today from the care of a relative. The relative was unable to protect the child from an abusive parent. About two minutes into the call an email came through placing her with another agency. So we miss out again. Drat.

Owl Pellets

The second graders dissected owl pellets at school last Friday. Sheela's pellet contained mostly shrew parts, and a remarkably large number of shrews at that.

Coach Sid

Well Sid has been blessed by the Allen Youth Soccer Association as the Panther's new head coach. Tim's new work schedule wont let him attend either practices or games for the rest of the season and Sid has stepped up to take over. He is not exactly thrilled about it but after he works out the kinks I think he'll be great. Tonight was his first practice, it went better than he thinks. As extra back up I'm getting mine too but I don't plan on needing it.

Blake Rae

Happy 4th Birthday Blake! We wish you all the best, where ever you are.

Shopping

Brenda and I went on an impulsive shopping trip this afternoon. This was the first time I've been in an actual shopping mall in at least two years. Much as I remembered you have to walk along way to get where you want to go only to find that there wasn't anything I actually wanted there anyway. I do not like clothes, I do not like shopping and I do not like shopping malls. Luckily they close early on Sundays and we only stayed an hour and a half. Brenda did manage to find what she was looking for and I managed to enjoy catching up with her life.

Pleurisy?

It has been suggested to us that Sheela's chest pain is ideopathic pleurisy. That is to say, fluid build up around her lungs that comes and goes rapidly with no identifiable cause and hurts like the dickens. I'll talk it over with Liz at work tomorrow, she is an RN and see if its worth calling the doctor over.

Sheela was sent home from school on Tuesday, she was having chest pain again so I took her to the doctor. Once again they were unable to identify a cause. It was not as severe as before.

Del Frisco's

After a soccer-filled, Saturday morning (the Hot Wheels finally won a game, or would have if we kept score) we took the kids to Farhana's for the night and went out on the town. We caught an early movie (V for Vendetta) and then went out to one of the two nicest restaurants in Dallas, Del Frisco's. I really love a good steak and this was probably the best one ever. We split a 34-ounce, long bone, Kobe steak and an incredible bottle of Henry Estates White Reisling. We finished the weekend with another pair of soccer games and a bonus Kindermusic class.

Underground Railroad

The second graders are escaping from slavery today via the underground railroad. They are dressed in hand-me-down clothes and carrying all of their wordly possessions (read as "a snack"). They will sneak off in groups traveling all the way from one end of the school to the other, guided by singing, where they are searching for the Canadian flag while trying to avoid the marshals. The marshals catch them by making eye contact, as long as the kids hide their eyes behind a banana leaf they should escape in time for a picnic lunch. They could hardly ask for a prettier day for their picnic, we should have brilliant sun and clear skies today. Unfortunately, it isn't actually warm.

Happy Birthday Grandpa-John!

We remembered to call John last night to wish him a very happy birthday. He got to talk to both kids (Sunil with a ton of detail on ALL of his latest advntures).

Kindergarten Roundup

It is official, Sunil has been registered for Kindergarten starting on August 7, 2006 at Anderson Elementary. Say it with me now "One drop off, one pick up". The world is a wonderful place.

Spring pictures are in

Ms DeWaters is on the right, Ms Holacka and Ms Streitmatter are on the left next to Sheela.

Loan Consultant

Yup, that's me. I'm an official Loan Consultant for Chardi Financial. That is the Mortgage Brokerage that Sid is buying. My function will be to pass along potential borrowers to someone licensed to help them..... but I can't wait to pass a card to my boss. Every few months he asks me about the rental protperties and how close I am to retirement. I like to keep him just a little bit nervous.

Pediatric Cardiologist

The official appointment was today. Sheela does, in fact, have a heart murmur and there is, in fact, no reason for concern. It did not even rate "keep-an-eye-on-it" status. They repeated the EKG and did a sonogram. The sonogram was pretty cool.

Happy Birthday Opa!

I did remember to call Dad last night for his birthday. Actually it was a Skype call which should have been even better but neither of us could get our cameras to work. Still, it was nice to get caught up.

Chalk Plantation

The kids planted a garden yesterday. The sign labeling it as a "Chalk Plantation" blew away during the night however I snapped a picture on my way by this morning. These are sticks of sidewalk chalk that were left out to soak in the rain over the weekend and are no longer good. This was as good a use as any for them I guess. I can't wait to see what grows.

The campers lived

Sid and the kids had a great time in Arkansas. Sunil and Sheela both earned their Junior Ranger badges. They managed hiking, boating and fishing before the rain started. They also went to one of the Hot Springs and took the duck tour. Here is a picture of Sunil standing under his bed in the camper, and another of the camper in our driveway. Luckily the camper didn't leak until the last night, and then it leaked only in the kitchen area over the linoleum floor and not in the beds. Hopefully the rain will let up today and we will be able to set it up one more time so that we can clean it out really well before we take it back to Brenda and Jeremy.

Justice

Ms. DeWaters' class lead the morning spirit rally at school today. The topic of this week's rally was: Justice. In the picture, Sheela is the blue blob holding up the "S" (third letter from the left - trust me.)

19 Years

Sudhir and I started dating 19 years ago today. That should seem like a long time.... but it doesn't. I wouldn't change a thing.

Rainy Days

The rain held off until late last night but we've been getting a very thorough soaking ever since. My niece Seema is playing in the State basketball tournament here this weekend. They won their first game this morning so we went out catch the next game. They won in the last 0.9 seconds of the game on a rebound from a missed free-throw. It was very dramatic. Unfortunately the other team contested the match based on a screw up on the time clock at two minutes to go in the fourth period. So instead of being done for the day Seema had to drive back up there to re play the last two minutes of the game. If they won (again) they will play two games tomorrow. If they lost then they played another game already today and have one more tomorrow. They haven't called yet to tell us how it went.

I talked to Brain and Tracy over Skype today. Both the audio and the video worked this time! It sounds like they could get some rain today too but they might get to enjoy the day a little bit first.

I need to go get ready, it's girl's night out. Beckie, Brenda, Cindy and Amy are meeting me up at Joe's Crab Shack for seafood and drinks. Maria couldn't get her babysitter lined up so we are running one short. We may catch a movie later or we may just sit and talk. Traditionally, we get together once a month for our birthday's from April-August. This is a bonus night since the kids are out of town.

Hot Springs National Park

Sid and the kids have gone off on their spring break camping trip. They drove up to Hot Springs this morning. They called to tell me that they've arrived safely and some how its my fault that they are one bathing suit short. Ha! He's an adult, he'll work it out. The camp site is over looking the lake and they've already purchased their fishing license.

I've planned some nights out with the girls and some general housekeeping to keep me busy. What I didn't plan on was the work backlash from Lynn's death. So I'm working late (and much harder than normal). Our ISO 14385:2000 training expires at the end of May and we have to upgrade to ISO 14385:2003. Lynn has been working on this for quite sometime but she didn't disseminate the information. We need to complete one year of work in two months. I've also promised my boss that I would pick up a few other larger projects to free him up. I think that this is the third night I've worked late in the last two years. It's been nice but now I guess I have to make up for it.

Memorial Service Today

We are having a memorial service at work today for Lynn Stimpson and Linda Sawyer. Both women worked here in the Quality for over 15 years and will be sorely missed. After the service we will be planting trees outside in their honor.



This is picture of Lynn was taken on an Alaskan cruise a few years back and the other is Lynn and Andrea from our company Holiday party this past November. I haven't found any pictures of Linda.

Ides of March

Trivia based on my "word of the day email". Julius Caesar was assassinated 2050 years ago today (if you ignore changes to the calendar).

The ides are the 15th day of March, May, July and October but the 13th day of all of the other months.

Norbert.....

Here is a picture of the kitten that we called Monster. He and Jojo are very close to each other in size and their paws are still huge compared to their bodies. These are going to be very large cats. When he went to live with Nancy he was the size of the remote control.

Shaving cream

Sunil's friend Travis spent the night on Saturday. They amused themselves by shaving, again and again.

Fondue weekend.....

After Sheela's game today we came home and made a three course fondue dinner. It took us nearly three hours to eat but it was worth every minute. We tried veggie eggrolls for the first time. They worked out very well.

Sheela's game was pretty good. They lost 4-2, but the opponents were a year older (we'll get a lot of that this year) and the wind scored one of their goals. I like the games a lot more when they are close.

We borrowed a pop-trailer from some friends. Sid is going to use it when he takes the kids camping next week. The weather is still unpredictable around here. It was at least 80 degrees today and gorgeous. I hope it stays this nice all week.
While we were picking up the trailer, we got to visit with Jojo (the kitten we called Belle). It turns out Belle was a boy and not a girl, oooppps. The point is now moot but I'm sure I'll hear about it for years to come.

and we got to watch Brenda and Sprite practice their Frisbee routine for their next competition.

They had to work extra hard to because it was very windy and they aren't used to the heat.

Spring

What a beautiful morning, well actually it was cool and overcast for the soccer games this morning which was even better. But it is beautiful now. I went out and trimmed the hedges around the front of the house. I'm using the manual trimmers because the electric ones freak me out when they get dull... they start catching and jerking. I just know I'm going to flay open my shin. The problem is that the manual clippers are dull too. So my hands are shaking and I can hardly type or drink my Coke. Also I ran out of steam halfway through the redtip. The redtips were the huge overgrown bushes at the corners of the house. Sid whacked one of them down to size last year but there were birds nesting in the other and I wouldn't let him touch it. Now we have one overgrown redtip on one side and half an overgrown redtip on the other.... when Sid gets home I'm going to try to talk him into whacking them both down to size.

BTW - The girls won their game this morning (but it was actually close), and the boys played their best ever (but still didn't score a goal). Honestly, the boys came very close more than once but their aim just wasn't true.

Another tragic day

My friend Lynn passed away yesterday. She fought lung cancer for two years. She woke up coughing, ruptured her lung and bleed out before EMS arrived. She'd just been in to work the day before leading a "Meet and Greet" with the regional FDA office. She was one of the most interesting people I've ever known and I'm really going to miss her.

Open House

Last night Sheela took us up to the school to tour her classroom, the computer lab, the gym, music room, etc. We actually went late (after soccer) so we didn't get to see everything that she wanted to show to us. For the most part we've seen it all before but we did go through all of her work from this year, take a run through the lost and found, and a quick trip through the book fair. I bought her a new dictionary, her old one was better but its been gone for at least six months and I've given up.

"Big A** TV Day"

Sid brought home the TV today. Sunil is watching Shrek 2. Right now it is in front of the entertainment center, but something has to go.

Process Validation

I just completed a three day long training class on the FDA's new approach to process validation. We sent 25 people from our company to the class, actually I guess we brought the class to us. In either case the class was excellent. We came out bursting with new ideas and a strong desire to revamp our whole system. As soon as we got back to the office, my boss had me unload most of my current projects in an effort to dive in completely. Unfortunately, there were at least three things going on that I don't want to get rid or that I'm too tied into to pass off. I'll work them in somewhere.

Jewel of the Seas

We have officially booked a Royal Caribbean cruise on the Jewel of the Seas. We will go in November along with the kids, Dad and Eileen, Karl and Luke and their families. I'm pretty excited about it. We will leave from Ft. Lauderdale go on to Key West, Cozumel, Costa Maya, George Town and then back to Ft. Lauderdale. The kids will both miss one week of school but it wont kill them (Sheela is convinced that it might).

We started to go for a cheap inside (no view) cabin, but for only a little bit more we could get one with a tiny balcony and an extra 40 feet of floor space. We looked a little farther and found out for just a few more dollars we could get two inside rooms with no view and a lot more floor space. So that's what we are doing. I'm sure the kids aren't supposed to have their own room but they are right next door and I'm thinking they can handle it.

Of course the day we decided to go ahead and book the tickets was the day that Dr. Sharma decided he should take us all on a cruise this year for a family reunion with Sid's siblings. Sid wont let us do two cruises in the same year. Bummer. I though it was a good plan.

Spring Season

Well we kicked off the Spring soccer season on Saturday and it looks like we are picking up where we left off last Fall. The boys got trounced soundly and the girls did a fair amount of trouncing of their own. Sheela scored at least five goals of her own and set Claire up for at least three more. They were not the only ones scoring for us.

Sunday we went for a family bike ride up to Celebration and then to go get haircuts. Poor Sunil still has a bike with 10" tires so he has to work awfully hard to ride very far. He will get a new bike for his birthday and we will pass then one on along to another friend with a small boy. The weather was pretty dreary while we were out. It did end up being a beautiful day but by then Sunil had fallen asleep on the lunch table and Sheela had gone to play with friends. I spent some time reading in the hammock instead of going back out to ride.

The second graders came alive as statues today.

Each one dressed up as a famous American (except for Darius who dressed up as King Darius) and arranged themselves on the school lawn. The kindergarteners, first graders and parents walked around and brought them to life by pushing their buttons. The living statue would then explain who they were and what they'd done to make them famous. Sheela was in the Mia Hamm section with the other Mia Hamms. It was a very strange collection of fame.

Bowling Tournament

I went bowling after work last night with the IS department from work. There are just enough real bowlers around here to make it respectable, the rest of us just had a really good time. I did manage two decent games including a new personal best (still only a 133). I did manage to get a turkey. For those of you that don't bowl that would be three strikes in a row. I've actually done that before but I usually balance it out with gutter balls.

Skype

Well we reinstalled Skype last night. Its a new version since I loaded it last. While I was still trying to find my way around I called Brian. He answered so fast that I hadn't even figured out what I was doing yet. I knew I couldn't actually talk to him, we broke the microphone and haven't installed the camera. I wasn't actually expecting him to answer. Hew was a good sport about it though and eventually Sid and Brian got to do some instant messaging (I went back to my book).

Keep an eye on your kids while you shop....

X-rays

I love X-rays. They look cool and the skeleton is very pretty. I never had any desire to study medicine or surgery but I certainly appreciate the complexity and interactions that make us work.

Sheela and I went for a nice long walk last night and we were talking about many things including x-rays. She did not get to see her chest x-ray. So I'm trying to find a way to get her back to the Dr's office so we can look at it. It might be as simple as stopping by and asking to take a look.

Eclectic Day

I love days like today. I started my work day by reviewing old X-rays, CT scans and MRIs looking for a viable pool of patients with intact intact distal radii. This was harder than normal as most of the patients were in the hospital with upper extremity fractures. Out of 60 I ended up with 25 candidates. If we are lucky the hospitals will still have the electronic files of the MRIs and CT scans and will be willing to part with them (or copies of them). With the changes to the HIPPA laws that may not happen. But if it does then I can try to find a company that will use their software to convert the data to CAD models of the bones which our R&D department can then use for some design modifications that they have in mind.

Shortly after I finished that I spent an hour with a woman with very small feet validating a foot pump that is made by one of our sister companies. For reasons that escaped me they sent us the smallest size unit to test. I'm hoping that we get to take over the manufacturing of the unit later this year.

From there I went back in to the warehouse to set up a plan for charging our PDAs while they are still on the shelf. It seems if we leave them back there too long with out charging the custom program gets dumped. Oops!

Then I did the paperwork to release a product line expansion to our new bone substitute product line and had a meeting to discuss the changes needed to the shelf life. The product was made with only a one year shelf life and that doesn't give us enough time to turn it. We are going to need to bring it back and have it reprocessed.

Then I worked on gathering examples of our quality records. We are partnering with a software company to look at a unified quality system for our internal records. But first we have to put together a pretty strong business case for why its worth the money. Its going to be a lot of money.

I even managed lunch with a friend from the R&D side of the house. This always gives me some more insight in to what is going on around me (I don't always notice the big picture). We went to a faux 50's diner called "Bel Aires and Burgers". The burger was excellent and the drive pleasant. Its back in the 80s today and beautiful again.